Let's Start At The Very Beginning: Picture Book Edition

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…”

Nearly everyone is familiar with this opening line from Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities. The opening of a book sets the tone for the story and has the potential to instantly hook the reader. Here are the openings to some of my favorite picture books. Which ones hook you?

“Before light—while the stars still twinkle—Papa, my brother John, and I leave our cabin and take the main road out of town, headed to work.” More Than Anything Else by Marie Bradby

“Mike Mulligan had a steam shovel, a beautiful red steam shovel. Her name was Mary Anne.” Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel by Virginia Lee Burton

“One day, a young bear was nosing through bushes when he saw something lying on the ground. He looked at it with curiosity. He sniffed at its tiny marks. Then the bear took it in his teeth and brought it back to his cave.” A Story for Bear by Dennis Haseley

“A happy school of little fish lived in a corner of the sea somewhere. They were all red. Only one of them was as black as a mussel shell. He swam faster than his brothers and sisters. His name was Swimmy.” Swimmy by Leo Lionni

“Mr. and Mrs. Mallard were looking for a place to live. But every time Mr. Mallard saw what looked like a nice place, Mrs. Mallard said it was no good.” Make Way for Ducklings by Robert McCloskey

“Forevergreen Forest was a quiet peaceful place until Bruce, a great shaggy brute of a bear came wandering up out of a canyon one day.” Big Bad Bruce by Bill Peet

“Elizabeti had a new baby brother Obedi. Elizabeti watched Mama take care of him and she wanted to care for her own baby.” Elizabeti’s Doll by Stephanie Stuve-Bodeen

“Elijah McCoy was born in Colchester, Ontrio, Canada, on May 2, 1844, to George and Emillia McCoy, former slaves who had escaped from Kentucky via the Underground Railroad.” The Real McCoy: The Life of an African-American Inventor by Wendy Towle

“For as long as any letter could remember, Vowels and Consonants had been enemies.” The War Between the Vowels and the Consonants by Priscilla Turner

“I went to sleep with gum in my mouth and now there’s gum in my hair and when I got out of bed this morning I tripped on the skateboard and by mistake I dropped my sweater in the sink while the water was running and I could tell it was going to be a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.” Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst

“The place is Ho-Ho-Kus, New Jersey. The year is 1999. On May 11, after months of careful research and planning, Holly Evans launches vegetable seedlings into the sky.” June 29, 1999 by David Wiesner

“There is a house, a napping house, where everyone is sleeping.” The Napping House by Audrey Wood

“It was late one winter night, long past my bedtime, when Pa and I went owling.” Owl Moon by Jane Yolen

 

And my favorite story beginning of all time comes from Shrek by William Steig. (Yes, Shrek was a book before it was a movie!)

“His mother was ugly and his father was ugly, but Shrek was uglier than the two of them put together.”